OPINION: President's response to today's West Australian, 8 Feb 2017; by Peter Hodyl (SDFC)

OPINION: President's response to today's West Australian, 8 Feb 2017, by Peter Hodyl (President, Swan Districts Football Club)

For the second time Mr Duffield has printed an article criticizing football in WA in relation to moving the AFL games to the new Burswood Stadium. It is clear he has no understanding at all about football in WA which covers Auskick to AFL. His views clearly come from looking through his rose coloured AFL glasses only from one of the many Media corporate suites he enjoys around the country and unfortunately like many 'self proclaimed' media experts writes a good story rarely based on any facts whatsoever.

I for one have never seen Mark Duffield attend any WAFL games in my time as President of the Swan Districts Football Club so maybe Mark should take the time to understand the challenges football in WA faces and I am not talking about our two WA based AFL (VFL) teams, although the AFL is trying to skin them as well with 'equalisation' measures.

In Mark's article he has made comment on $100 million 'compensation offer' over ten years. Sorry Mark this is not for the upkeep of Domain Stadium, it is to ensure ALL football in WA continues to provide the opportunities it currently does which in turn provide the elite players he enjoys watching from his gifted viewing position. I am talking about Auskick, Amateurs, Country, WAFL, Female, Veteran's, 9's etc. Football in WA is not just AFL, Fremantle and West Coast Eagles.

Mark has also asked about what the AFL contribution is, well maybe Mark should do what a real investigative journalist does and 'ask the question' instead of waiting to be spoon fed from the AFL in a crafted press release. The AFL directly provides less than $3 million per annum (pittance) to football in WA whilst at the same time pumps 10's if not 100's of millions into 'non football' states NSW and QLD. Their argument that the AFL game contributes through WCE and Fremantle is completely flawed as this funding is specifically related to the profits of both WCE and Fremantle and the income from Stadium revenue.

Current funding to the WAFC is derived from operating Domain Stadium, Royalties from WCE and Fremantle and the AFL. WCE and Fremantle contribute the most in the form of licence agreements. Let's make this clear, licence agreements, not donations, not out of the goodness of their hearts but the agreement between the WAFC and the AFL to compensate grassroots football for the loss of revenue to Football in WA due to the introduction of the AFL. Football in WA agreed, for the good of the national game's advancement, to allow a WA based team to join the then VFL; this has since morphed into the AFL. This funding will now be significantly reduced as the WAFC loses the income generated by the use of Domain Stadium and potential loss of profits of both Fremantle and WCE due to the AFL's proposed 'equalisation' measures. Where is the $11 million shortfall to run football in WA to come from? Again, not talking about WCE and Fremantle but WA football.

Then Mark refers to some $29 million in grants to WAFL clubs Swan Districts, West Perth and Claremont. Well I would like Mark to show me where on the Swan Districts balance sheets or P&L's one red cent we have received from the WA government?  Not one red cent has the Swan Districts Football Club received so I suggest Mark go back to journalism school to learn about clarifying facts before shooting his mouth off. Instead of criticizing the grass root WA football clubs maybe he should be congratulating them on what they can and have achieved with the meagre funding they receive through their commitment to a national competition. These achievements include many significant community programs across a vast array of non football areas and partnered by many significant organizations throughout WA to simply make our communities better. Female football has been growing steadily over a number of years which would not have been possible without the commitment of grass root clubs.

Currently Female Football is all the rage with the AFL and Media basking in the glory of its initial success the last week or so. The Swan Districts Football Club has had a Women's football team for 10 years and has embraced this as part of our football club. In its first year we entered both League and Reserves teams due to the great response to this initiative. A youth girls team was introduced in 2012 so the Swan Districts Football Club had already developed a female pathway to enable our great game to be enjoyed by all. This is evidenced with nine of our 2016 players recruited into the inaugural AFLW competition including three marquee players at Adelaide and Fremantle. What funding assistance has the Swan Districts Football Club received from the AFL or the WAFC over this period of developing the game? $0.00. Our club has provided facilities, access to our AFL experienced coaches and training staff, mentoring, and inclusiveness which has helped build the desire amongst women to play leading to the AFLW creation. Congratulations to all the girls playing football at club and AFL level and you would think the Swan Districts Football Club would at least get a letter, certificate, acknowledgement or even maybe a bag of footballs from the AFL in appreciation for the efforts in making the AFLW a reality. No, not even a magnetic board.....

Grassroots football is the lifeblood that puts bread on Mark's table. The AFL supplies the butter, and probably cream donuts in his corporate media box so if he really wants to solve this impasse he should focus his attention on the inequality of funding the AFL applies throughout Australia, put his media pressure where it is best suited to ensure football in WA can continue to nurture the game itself and not just the elite he enjoys watching so much. But it is clear Mark knows which side of his bread the butter is on.

Regards

Peter Hodyl

(President, Swan Districts Football Club)

This article was originally published at the following link: https://swandistrictsfc.site-ym.com/page/News [accessed 10 February 2017].

Original article by Mark Duffield:

Time to put brakes on footy gravy train, by Mark Duffield

Tuesday 7 February 2017

The next State government, Liberal or Labor, has to stop the football gravy train.

Football continues to turn its nose up at a move from Subiaco Oval to a new stadium with 50 per cent more seats, 50 per cent more corporate seats and three times as many toilets, despite a $100 million “compensation” offer.

We are not here because any government has treated football poorly. We are here because governments of both political persuasions at both State and Federal level have been too kind, for too long to a code that continues to reinforce its reputation as the spoilt brat of WA sport.

If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then both political parties should be warned ahead of this election: football is never satisfied. Gift them a stadium in 1989, then two significant upgrades to that stadium, more than $40 million in State and Federal funds to make league-leading training facilities possible, then pole position at what will be the best stadium in Australia. The more you give, the more football feels entitled to take.

Football continues to tell us that it must be “no worse off” at the new stadium. Let me put “no worse off” in real terms.

The three-tiered stand at Subiaco Oval, which holds 7500 seats, will be 50 years old in two years. The 10,000 seat two-tiered stand alongside it will be 40 years old in three years. Replacing those alone would conservatively cost between $150 million and $200 million and would not even budge the stadium’s capacity from its underwhelming 42,500.

If there had been no new stadium built just how was football expecting to replace those grandstands? Unfortunately we know the answer. They expected taxpayers to pay for them and then hand them back “their” stadium.

Just how much money has the AFL committed to make sure the WAFC is “no worse off” when the shift to the new stadium comes?

We are still waiting for that press release.

The new government must make taxpayers their priority, not a wealthy sporting code that that has been given too much and shows precious little gratitude for it.

A $1.3 billion stadium, $40 million in AFL/community training facility grants, $29 million in grants to WAFL clubs Swan Districts, West Perth and Claremont.

Now $10 million a year for 10 years is not enough to convince football it will be no worse off?

Time to stop the gravy train.

Time to stop the madness.

This article was originally published at the following link: https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/time-to-put-brakes-on-footy-gravy-train-ng-b88379161z [accessed 10 February 2017].

Swans' director Peter Snow, West Perth ex-president Brett Raponi (2008-2016), and Swans' president Peter Hodyl.

R.A. McDonald Stand Bassendean Oval.

The southern-end goals viewed from the McDonald Stand.

The R.A. McDonald Stand viewed from the southern-end goals. All Bassendean Oval pictures except the Peter Hodyl picture were taken by Kieran James (founder WAFL GOLDEN ERA) in July 2011.